The NLRB on January 26 extended the deadline for responding to its "Request for Information Regarding Representation Election Regulations." The new deadline is March 19 – five weeks later than the original February 12 deadline. The Board is in no hurry right now. The Board is divided 2-2 between Republicans and Democrats, and no changes will be made until the Republicans regain the majority they lost in mid-December 2017.

The matter at issue is the NLRB's 2014 revisions to the rules governing representation election procedures. Enacted by a Democrat-dominated Board, the rules are now vulnerable to change by a Republican-dominated Board.

The 2014 rules – sometimes disparagingly referred to as "Quickie Election Rules" or "Ambush Election Rules" – have had the result of shortening the time between when a union files a petition for an election and the time of the election from an average of six weeks to an average of 23 days.

We all know that the Board – once the President and Senate act to get a fifth Member in place – will cancel all or most of the changes made in 2014. To get ready for that inevitable event, the Board issued a "Request for Information Regarding Representation Election Regulations" [PDF] which asked three simple questions:

"1. Should the 2014 Election Rule be retained without change?

"2. Should the 2014 Election Rule be retained with modifications? If so, what should be modified?

"3. Should the 2014 Election Rule be rescinded? If so, should the Board revert to the Election Regulations that were in effect prior to the 2014 Election Rule’s adoption, or should the Board make changes to the prior Election Regulations? If the Board should make changes to the prior Election Regulations, what should be changed?"